Explorations On Language Memes And Translation:A Relevance-Adaptation Approach

A long time went by since Richard Dawkins first referred to the notion of meme in his work The Selfish Gene in1976, and the discipline has truly become an interdisciplinary field due to many scholars’contributions. The studies based on memetics and its related concepts remain to be developed. Language Meme (LM) is a concept derived from this theory. Just as its name implies, memes that are originated from and carried in languages are called language meme. Anything that is imitated and transmitted within the range of language can be defined as a language meme or linguistic meme which belongs to one kind of the basic units of cultural evolution just as gene is the basic unit of human body.Relevance-Adaptation Theory (RAT) is proposed by Chinese scholars based on previous studies of pragmatics, especially on Relevance Theory (RT) and Adaptation Theory (AT). The Relevance-Adaptation approach to translation is a cross-cultural, translator-centered theoretic paradigm. Within the theoretical framework, scholars hold the view that translation is both an ostensive-inferential process seeking for optimal relevance and a dynamic-adaptive process in which the translator seeks optimal relevance in the original context and make dynamic adaptation in TL cognitive environment.In light of RAT, this thesis probes into the theoretical analysis and application to language memes and translation strategies of language memes’cross-cultural transmission between English and Chinese languages. The imitation and transmission of foreign language memes are based on the activity of translation, accordingly, the translator has to choose suitable strategies taking quality and quantity assurance of language memes into consideration. That is, under the theoretical analysis, the translator has to do his/her best to find out the optimal relevance. In the process of translating, the translator takes relevance as his criterion, adaptation as his/her method and the author’s intention as his/her destination. However, not in all cases exist optimal relevance; hence, based on previous studies, this thesis proposes that the adaptation varies as degree of relevance varies. In the course of discourse-interpreting process, the translator has to judge the relevance degree and try to find out optimal relevance; in the course of discourse-producing process, the translator makes linguistic adaptation and chooses corresponding strategies. As for translation strategies, for those language memes that have optimal relevance in the TL context, literal translation strategies will be suitable. For those that have weak-relevance, some other compensative strategies should be taken into consideration. For those that are not relevant at all, adaptation is difficult to make and the translator has to choose strategies which can convey as much the connotation of original language meme as possible.Most of the scholars both in the field of memetics and pragmatic translation fail to attach importance to the study of language meme and its translation, not alone under the guidance of RAT approach to translation. As a result, this paper tries to analyze on the issue. This paper first introduced previous studies on the relationship between language and meme with reference to some of the related concepts. Based on the brief introduction of RT and AT, RAT proposed by Chinese scholars was educed. Specifically, from the viewpoint of RAT, the translation equivalence and translating process were elaborated. Furthermore, the two aspects were applied into the translation of LM. Borrow from previous studies on relevance degree; this thesis roughly classified the relevance degree of language memes in Chinese and English cultures. Corresponding to different range or situation of relevance degree, different translation strategies and methods were given by this thesis with examples and analysis.